


Rescue Me

by overthinker36



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shipwrecked, Ballum Big Bang 2020 (Eastenders), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25341973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overthinker36/pseuds/overthinker36
Summary: What would happen if Ben and Callum never met, until the middle of a total disaster?Ben is persuaded to take Lexi on the holiday of a lifetime. Stuart convinces Callum a boys' trip is just the thing to get over his broken engagement. Then the cruise ship sinks ...Stranded and awaiting rescue, Ben and Callum meet for the first time.
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 7
Kudos: 47
Collections: Ballum Big Bang 2020





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, a dollar short and two days late! Getting this done is one of the hardest things I've had to do, but I was determined. In lieu of apologies for my tardiness, I would like to thank the Big Bang organisers for their patience, and, especially, @fireangel5683, for whom only apologies will suffice.
> 
> *bows and retreats, hat in hand*

Crashing water …

Warm wind …

Cool skin … wet …

A faint, distant smell of burning.

Callum isn’t sure which sensation he becomes aware of first, but they’re all subtly _wrong_. They’re all alien, a world away from his usual waking routine of the last few weeks. That’s a tiny cruise-ship cabin – the cheapest one, no porthole, and forget a balcony – where you never feel the movement of the colossal ship and the only sounds are the air-conditioning and Stuart’s supersonic snores.

Back further … this isn’t his south London flat. That feels like cold, and damp, and the fierce, orange glare of outdated streetlights and the never-ending wail of sirens and car alarms. 

Back further than that … the army … getting warmer, now.

Wind, water, burning. Impossibly bright light, searing through his eyelids one minute, blocked out the next, then blinding once again. He’s aware, and unaware, of it all at once.

No, Callum isn’t aware which sensation he became aware of first. He is, however, painfully aware of the one that comes second, the one that drags him back to consciousness, mercifully before the army flashbacks can begin. Warm water – enough to choke him – is dumped unceremoniously onto his upturned face. A second later, the taste of salt.

His eyes fly open. The light is immediately explained: he’s outside, and the sun is _blinding_. A fuzzy-outlined shape blocks out the worst of it. Blinking furiously, his eyes stinging from the salt, he struggles to focus. The fuzzy shape is a face, a small one, and the fuzz is blonde, golden hair, whipped around into total disarray. The blue eyes are regarding him in concern, the little brow furrowed, the little mouth pursed.

Callum’s mind launches into overdrive. His peripheral vision expands to take in golden sands, white-crested waves on a turquoise sea, and sun-drenched palm trees. He gapes at it all, and his little saviour. Paradise? An angel? Surely not.

“Sorry about the water in your face,” the angel says, matter-of-factly, in what is unmistakeably both a) a London accent, and b) the high pitch of a small child. Not an angel, then. He should probably feel relieved – you know, not to be dead – but as suspicions about his new reality start to seep in, it looks like divine intervention might be in order.

She prods him, to make sure he’s listening. “Sorry,” she says again. “But I saw someone do it on the telly, once. To wake someone up. You know, when they were hurt, and wouldn’t wake up. And it worked!”

She’s proud of herself, clearly, and he smiles despite himself, taking in her sparkly pink unicorn t-shirt, and the glittery silver jelly shoe that had obviously been used to carry the water that revived him. 

“Yeah. Yeah, it did,” he agrees, pushing himself up on his elbows, taking in the sight around him. Assorted wreckage. No other people. His instincts, the ones that always take care of others first, raise immediate concern for this little girl. In the back of his mind, questions finally begin to form.

__

_How did we get here?_

He can’t seem to remember. He sits up fully, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. Reaching for her hand, he makes eye contact with the little girl. “I’m Callum. What’s your name?”

“I’m Lexi Pearce. I’m seven years old,” she answers, suddenly formal.

“Nice to meet you, Lexi.” He pauses before continuing. He’s recovered enough now to understand that something terrible has happened. He doesn’t want to upset her, but he has to ask. “Where are your grown-ups?”

“Mum’s back at home. She got hurt, so Daddy took me on the boat instead.” Her little face falls slightly, her head turning to look out to sea.

“Do you .. do you know where your daddy is?”

Her face scrunches up now, fighting tears, shaking her head. When the first sob escapes, she flings herself into his arms, weeping into his shoulder. He holds her shaking body, comforting her instinctively, one hand reaching up to stroke the tangled hair at the back of her head.

*~*~*~*~*

__

__

_Two weeks earlier._

“Come on, Callum, it’ll be a right laugh!” Stuart insists and really, it’s ridiculous when a man as large as his brother, who looks like _that_ , starts whining.

“I’ll never get the time off work,” he tries, because as much as he loves his brother, he knows that after two weeks in a compact cabin with him, he’d throw himself overboard.

“’Course you can, they love you there. You work harder than all of ‘em. And they know how down you’ve been since it ended with Whitney.” He’s gone from whining to wheedling, clearly not giving up any time soon. “That’s why you’ve gotta go!”

“And the fact that you can’t afford to pay for it?” He snaps back, somewhat meanly, especially when his brother has a point.

“Yeah, well, I found the deal, didn’t I?” Stuart waves his phone around, showing the Travelzoo offer. “And I’ll pay you back, I swear!”

Callum can feel himself wavering. Truth is, he’s getting desperate. He feels like his mind’s been slowly unravelling for months. For years. For as long as he can remember. He thought when he got home from the army, started to put a life together, everything would get easier. The job in the funeral parlour, the smart suits every morning … the beautiful girl. It had all been okay when he was wrapped up in building it, putting it all together. That life. It was only when he actually had to start _living_ it that it had all come apart.

He couldn’t go through with the wedding. He’d called it off the night before. Hurt Whitney terribly. Everyone – literally, everyone – thought he was mad. Lovely Callum, the last bloke you’d ever think to get cold feet.

Not for the first time, he’d ached to talk to Chris. Chris would get it. Chris would understand. And Chris was _absolutely not_ the reason he called the wedding off in the first place. No.

But Chris was gone.

He pulls himself back to reality, back to the present, where his gigantic idiot of a brother is giving him puppy eyes. Well, as close as you can get when you look like Uncle Fester.

He could get out of here for a few weeks. Clear his head. Figure out how to move on.

Figure out where it all went wrong in the first place.

“All right,” he sighs, reaching into his blazer pocket for his wallet.


	2. Chapter 2

Ben knows exactly what brought him back to reality: a boot to the rib. He wishes he could say it was the first time.

The boot comes again, harder this time. Then again. Again. He feels like only moments ago, someone is bending over him, shouting. They may have been slapping his face.

“Okay. Okay!” he yells, jolting to life. His eyes open, then immediately clench shut against the bright light. He hears a sudden scream of terror that’s he’s fairly sure he didn’t make.

The next thing he’s aware of is pain. Everything hurts. The recently-kicked ribs were already hurting. His head aches. His back is twisted unbearably. He can taste blood. Maybe it was his own scream he heard.

He’d curled onto his side, instinctively, to protect his ribs, but now rolls onto his back, lifts his arms – more pain – and rubs his face. Tentatively, then harder.

“You’re alive, then,” his tormentor grunts. Ben looks up at him: a bald, grimacing giant. Of course.

“If you say so,” he groans. “What ‘appened?”

Even the giant – Ben’s known him for less than a minute and he can already see sensitivity isn’t his strong suit – pauses before answering, and softens his voice. “The boat went down, mate.”

It takes a minute to process that. Everything’s fuzzy, literally as well as physically; his glasses are gone. He was on a boat. A cruise ship. Then … a storm.

He sits bolt upright, staring around wildly. “Lexi!” he screams. “Lexi! _Lexi!_ ”

*~*~*~*  
_Three months earlier ..._

He’s sitting in the caf, just finishing his toast, taking his time over his tea, flicking through his phone. He notices his hookup app has offloaded; it’s been that long since he’s used it. He must be getting old. Or something. No big deal. He’s fine, really.

There’s a flash of gold, blonde and neon print. Heavy perfume scent tells him it’s Lola that’s plonked herself down opposite him.

“You got any plans for Lexi’s summer holidays this year?” she asks, without greeting, reaching over and helping herself to the last of his toast.

“Morning, Lola,” he says flatly. “I’m fine, yourself?”

She rolls her eyes, and it’s hard to be annoyed with that particular expression, when the usual place he sees it is the face of his little girl.

“Good morning, Ben,” she says robotically, albeit through a mouthful of toast. His toast. She then reverts to her usual cheery, rapid cadence. “I wanted to know if you’d planned any trips or surprises with Lexi this summer. Because I got this offer on Travelzoo for a Med cruise and they’re practically giving it away! And I thought it would be fab for me and Lexi to go on a posh cruise, get some sun, get dressed up every night, all-inclusive meals, dancing, swimming pool – with waterslide – and she’d see some of the world. Get some culture, yeah?”

He sighs, knowing better than to argue with Lola when she’s like this. Besides, he knows Lexi would love it. “How much?”

She grins a Cheshire Cat grin, knowing she’s got him. When she tells him the price, he just blinks. Wow. That is good. He nods and she dashes off, presumably to book it before he changes his mind. He smiles, thinking of his little girl’s excitement. He finds himself almost wishing he was going with them.

*~*~*~*

_Ten weeks later._

Ben hurries down the hospital corridor, shoulders hunched, worry etched all over his face. His stomach is in knots. He hates this place. With his crazy family, he’s seen far too much of this place.

When the Mitchells end up in this place, though, they usually deserve it. Lola doesn’t. He hates that she’s hurt. Quite apart from how upset their little girl’s going to be, he cares about her. It would be weird to say she’s like a sister, given that they have a kid together, but they’re close. They both agree that Lexi is the most important thing in the world, and given how they started, it’s a wonder they manage to be even half-decent parents. Lola’s better than decent, though. She’s amazing. She’s the reason Lexi’s amazing, he knows this. She’s the best. He sleeps easier at night knowing it.

He gets directions to her room and enters, after knocking to let her know he’s there.

Jay and Billy are already there. She’s sitting up and laughing with them, and his pulse slows slightly. They all stop and look at him.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, just before he notices her leg, strapped up and elevated.

“Double break,” Jay explains. “I’ve told her about them heels.”

She rolls her eyes. “I move better in heels than you do in trainers. It was a loose slab on the square. I should sue the council.”

Ben takes a deep breath - he always fears the worst when family members are involved – and pauses. “You’re okay, though.”

“Well, three broken bones and enough painkillers to stun a dinosaur is hardly ‘okay,’ is it? But I’ll live. Won’t be dancing any time soon, though.” At this, she gives a pointed look to Jay, who stands.

“Right. I need a coffee, I’m knackered. Come on, Bill, show me where the machines are.”

Billy looks confused – understandably; the coffee machines are practically right outside the door – but goes with Jay with minimal protest. Ben sits down in one of their empty chairs. He goes to take Lola’s hand, thinks better of it, then thinks a third time and grabs hold of it.

She just smiles at him. It’s weird, how much she gets him. Or maybe it’s the painkillers.

“Lexi with your mum?”

He nods. “She don’t know anything about this yet. Didn’t know what to say.”

“It’s a broken leg. She’ll be wanting to choose my plaster colour and then sign her name all over it.”

This gets a laugh out of him. “Yeah, she will. Then she’ll appoint herself Head Nurse.”

“Could do a lot worse, in our family,” she points.

“You’re not wrong,” he laughs.

“But there is a problem, Ben,” she says, suddenly serious. “I need an operation, and maybe some metal pins, and weeks in plaster. I won’t be able to take Lexi on her cruise.”

“No,” he agrees. “She’ll be sad, but she’ll get over it. As long as her mum’s okay.”

Lola doesn’t agree. “No, she’ll be devastated! She was so looking forward to it! She didn’t have a single day off school this term so she could have this holiday. You have to take her!”

“We can’t leave you here with a broken leg!”

“I’ve got them pair,” she nods her head towards the corridor, where the outlines of Jay and Billy can be seen through the half-drawn blinds. “And your mum’ll help out. And to be honest, if I knew Lexi was taken care of, that’d be half the pressure off anyway.”

Before he leaves the hospital, he’s already been on his phone to change the ticket name, and made a phone call to him mum to check his passport’s valid.

As the days tick by, he starts to feel an almost childlike excitement, fuelled by Lexi’s pre-holiday delirium. It's hard not to get swept away by it.


	3. Chapter Three

Callum looks up into the sky, trying to gauge the time of day. He wasn’t wearing a watch, and his phone is long gone. The sun is high, so it’s a long time until the sun sets over the wreckage of their ship, a few hundred yards from the beach.

“I think we’d better start walking, Lexi,” he says, reaching for her hand. “There must be some other people.” He doesn’t say survivors. He doesn’t want her to start thinking about the alternative.

“My daddy?” she asks, looking up.

“Yeah,” he says, trying to sound more confident than he feels. “Let’s go and find him.”

Smiling once more, she takes his hand, and they set off along the beach.

She chatters as she walks, and he listens with one ear. He wonders where they are. They were in the middle of two days at sea. Is this an island, or are they on the mainland of Italy or Greece? He wracks his brain for his schoolboy geography. He’s sure they can’t be in Africa. Should they keep going along the beach, in search of survivors, or turn inland, in search of civilisation? If it were just him, he’d look for other people who’d washed up on the beach, but now he’s responsible for a child. If the worst has happened to her father, at least she has her mother back in England. Surely, he should make sure the kid gets back to her mum first?

They walk until her pace slows to almost nothing and, impressed that she hasn’t whined, he suggests a rest. He climbs up on a rock, using his height to scan the surroundings, as far along the beach as he can see. She hauls herself up on the rock and sits, hugging her knees.

“Who are you looking for?” she asks, squinting up at him.

“My brother,” he replied. “I was on the ship with my brother.”

“Is he your big brother or your little brother?”

He grins, remembering how much this stuff matters to kids. “Big brother. Right old pain in the neck!” He jumps off the rock, landing in the sand. He realises the sun has been setting faster than he’d realised.

Surprisingly, she looks confused, and he immediately realises he’s dealing with an only child. “Don’t you love your brother?”

“Yes!” he replies, more sharply than he probably should to a seven-year-old. Of course he does, there’s nothing he’s more sure of, but you don’t just say it in his world.

She doesn’t flinch, just tosses her hair and sighs virtuously. Perched on that rock, seawater-bedraggled, silhouetted against the setting sun, she looks like a tiny mermaid. “Well, I love my daddy more than anyone else in the world. Except my mum. And after them there’s my nan, grandad, great-grandad …” 

By this point, she has started to count them on her fingers.

“And I’ve got loads of cousins, too.”

“You got a lot of family.” It isn’t a question. He remembers his own childhood. Mum gone, Dad a monster, Stuart and Grandad trying their best, but … no-one else.

She raises her eyebrow. “Well, yeah, I’m a Mitchell!” Obviously, it has never crossed her mind that there would be someone who didn’t know what that meant.

He lifts her, ever so gently, off the rock and sets her down just as gently on the sand. “Shall we see if we can find them before it gets dark?”

She lifts her chin and nods resolutely. However pampered she is by her extended family, she’s got some guts. Hand in hand, they walk off along the beach. 

*~*~*~*

_One week earlier._

Sitting in the lounge together after another outstanding meal, Callum is prepared to admit that “all you can eat” might have been a great idea. “All you can drink,” however, was not such a great plan.

“Never gonna find anyone, bruv,” Stuart slurs, laying a hand on Callum’s arm. Callum doesn’t think there’s enough booze on the whole ship to get him through this.

“You will,” he says, as reassuringly as he can manage. “You’ll find the right girl.”

“Won’t,” Stuart mopes. “Never. Not like you! You had … had the best girl! And you deserved it! Only the best for my little brother. What happened, bruv?”

Callum is fixedly peeling the label off his beer bottle. “It weren’t right, Stu. We’ve been over this. I couldn’t do that to her.”

His brother gives him a long look. “Did she have someone else?”

“No!” Callum wishes that were true, but the least he can do for his former fiancée is to spare her good name.

“Did you?”

He can’t meet his brother’s eyes, but he answers truthfully. “No, of course not. No one else.”

Only a ghost.

“So how did it go wrong? It was perfect!” Stuart hiccups.

Callum sighs. “I couldn’t see a future together.” And he’s had just enough to drink that he’s starting to think about the future he might want … and how no girl could make it. For a wild, fleeting moment he entertains the idea of telling his brother the truth: that the only person who’s ever made him happy was his army friend. A man.

The feeling passes, quickly. It only takes a second to imagine the shock and shame in his brother’s eyes. The look on his face, and on the faces of everyone he knows.

He lets Stuart go on with his woeful rambling, and lets his mind slip away.


	4. Chapter Four

“Who’s Lexi? Your missus?”

Ben shoots him a filthy glare. His mind won’t seem to work. He needs to start looking for Lexi, but he can’t quite decide which way up the coast to start walking. If he chooses the wrong one, he could be leaving her further behind.

“My daughter. She’s only seven. I’ve gotta find her.”

He looks one way as far as he can, then the other. The only mercy here is that somehow his contacts have stayed in. He can’t see any advantage to either direction and he can feel a panic attack building.

The giant puts a hand on each of his shoulders. “Breathe, mate. You freaking out won’t help her, will it?”

Ben shrugs his shoulders, displacing the hands, but he sees the sense, breathes deep, and calms down.

“I’ll help you, if you like. I’m Stuart.”

“Ben,” he replies, and manages a small “Thanks.”

The wreckage of the cruise ship, a little out to sea, seems slightly to their left, so they start walking. Ben feels each step in all of his joints and muscles, but doesn’t slow down.

“If we’re okay, then there might be other people. And they’d look after Lex, they’d love her, everyone does,” he says, more to himself than to Stuart.

“She might be with my brother. He’s great with kids. Wish he was here. He’d be dead useful marooned on an island. He was in the Army.” All of this is said, unmistakeably, with huge amounts of pride. Ben can’t imagine it. The only person in the world who makes him feel that proud is Lexi. It occurs to him that Stuart’s brother must be younger; he must’ve helped raise him. Ben’s good at reading people like this. It’s useful, usually. Now it’s just an idle realisation, somewhere in the back of his mind. He’s only focused on finding his little girl.

“Oh, yeah? Got kids, has he?”

“Callum? No. We’ve only got each other, really. He was engaged until a few weeks back. Amazing girl. Beautiful, funny, dead loyal. Still don’t know why he broke it off. He won’t tell me. It’s not like he’d had loads of girls before. Just her.”

Ben’s mind also files this away.

As they walk, a heap of twisted metal and white plastic comes into view. Ben breaks into a run, gasping with pain, Stuart close behind.  
At first, it just looks like wreckage. Then …

“Oh, bloody hell.” Stuart’s picked up what looks like a stray lifeguard’s pole and is prodding at a bundle of clothing trapped under the debris. Together, both grim-faced, they lift the sheet of metal. Silently, they meet each other’s eyes, and lower it back down.

“Nothing we can do,” says Ben firmly, starting to walk again. Stuart jogs after him.

“Shouldn’t we … you know … like, bury them or something?”

“How’s that gonna help them?” Ben asks, knowing he sounds callous, but also knowing he’s right. When they find Lexi, and when they get rescued, they can tell people to come back here for the body. Bodies, maybe. For now, he needs to keep looking.

The sun is setting fast, now. At least now they know which way is west.

“Are we better off stopping on the beach, or going up into the trees a bit?” Stuart asks, out of nowhere.

Ben, whose frustration has been building, snaps, “What are you talking about?”

“Will we be safer sleeping here?” Stuart repeats, slower. It reminds Ben of the way boys at school would mock him about his hearing.

“I’m not going to sleep, you idiot.”

“Gonna keep looking in the dark, are you?”

He just gives a small, that-should-be-obvious nod.

“You’re the idiot! You’ll hurt yourself.”

He’s already hurt. He doesn’t care.

“You might miss something.”

That stops him. “All right. When it gets too dark to see, we’ll stop. Not until.”

*~*~*~*~*

_One week earlier._

“This is the best holiday I’ve ever been on!” Lexi declares.

Ben smiles, unguarded in a way he can’t be back home. It has been pretty good. They’ve ignored the crowds of people pushing their way off the ship in each port, ready to be overcharged by souvenir salespeople and harangued by time-share touts, and stayed on the ship, taking advantage of the pool, the bowling alley, the water-slide, the cinema … and the all-you-can-eat ice-cream. 

She’s working her way through a knickerbocker glory almost as big as she is, and it’s all over her face, not to mention her floral sundress. He knows Lola packed enough for two cruises and isn’t worried. Grinning, he pulls out his phone and snaps a few photos for her mum, and she beams, not bothered in the slightest that there’s mint-choc-chip up to both eyebrows.

It’s kids happy hour, and the band are playing Disney tunes while the little ones enjoy their ice-cream. A mum with little twin boys is up dancing with them on the dancefloor. Their dad walks up and joins them.

“Will you dance with me, Daddy?”

“Yeah, when you’re finished.”

She looks around, and appears to notice something.

“All the other children have their mum and dad.”

He knows she doesn’t mean anything, but it still hits him hard. “You’ve got a mum and a dad, too.”

“And Uncle Jay.”

“And Uncle Jay. There, see,” he bent forward and pretend-whispered. “You’ve got three and they’ve only got two.”

“But it’s just you and me now.”

“I like it when it’s just me and you,” he says honestly, and pretends he’s going to steal the chocolate flake that she’s somehow left till last. She bats his hand away.”

“Yes. I think you should get a boyfriend, though.”

He just blinks at her. It’s bad enough when his mum does this. 

“Well, then I might not have as much time to spend with you.”

“Don’t be silly,” she says, rubbing uselessly at her face with the napkin. “Me and Mum spend loads of time together, and then we spend time with Uncle Jay. It’s nice.”

He jumps up and offers her his arm to walk to the dancefloor, desperately needing to change the subject. He imagines what it would be like, some mystery ideal man helping him with Lexi. He can almost imagine it, but not quite. Someone that perfect can’t possibly exist.


	5. Chapter Five

A shiver passes over Callum, although it’s hardly cold, and he notices how low the sun has sunk. Lexi has soldiered on bravely, although he’s resorted to carrying her twice, wanting to cover as much ground as possible. Now, she’s holding tight to his hand, but her pace has slowed considerably. He leads her up to the tree line, away from the shore.

“Have a little rest, eh?”

She nods sleepily and sinks to the sand. He shrugs off his jacket and rolls it into a ball, making her a pillow. She lies down and rests her head on it, but doesn’t attempt to sleep, looking up at him with huge eyes.

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you. I just want to get some wood from those trees so I can make a fire.”

She nods and yawns, but still doesn’t close her eyes.

Thankfully, these trees haven’t seem rain for some time, and all the wood is dry, perfect for burning. He makes sure to stay where she can see him as he gathers sticks and a few large stones.

When she sees him walking back towards her, she finally closes her eyes. He makes a circle of the stones, and quickly gets a fire going – thank you, Army training that he never thought he’d actually use. 

Once he’s satisfied the fire won’t die out, he stretches out on the sand. He doesn’t plan on sleeping, but his body needs the rest. He gazes up at the darkening sky and reminds himself that it was a large ship, and although it wasn’t full, there were plenty of people. And the authorities – coast guard, cruise company, someone – must know by now what’s happened. It won’t be long until they’re found.

His instinct is to lie close to Lexi, to keep her warm and safe. But he’s a stranger to her, and anyone finding them could get awful ideas. So keeps his distance, and keeps an eye on her.

Just as darkness has finally settled, a twig in the fire explodes with a loud pop. There must have been some moisture in them, after all. Lexi jerks awake.

“Daddy!”

“It’s okay, Lexi. Remember me, I’m Callum. You’re okay. It was just the fire. It won’t hurt you.”

She looks like she’s just calming down, when suddenly, she screams.

“What was that?”  
“What?”

“Something black just flashed over my head!”

He tilts his head upward, just in time to see a dark shape moving impossibly fast. 

“They’re bats,” he realises out loud. She gives a little wail. He wonders if she’s ever been out of London before. He shuffles a bit closer to her.

“Bats are really good, because they eat flies and mosquitoes and stuff,” he explains. “The flies like the light of our fire, so the bats are coming to gobble them up.” He makes the eating gesture with his hand.

She shudders, hiding her head in her hands.

“You know something else? They make sounds too high for us to hear, and they use them to find their way around.”

Her little face slowly emerges. “Really?”

“Really. You know if you shout in a tunnel?”

She nods wisely. “It bounces back. It’s called an echo. I learned about it at school. Sound vibrates the air, and it bounces back into your ears.”

He’s genuinely impressed. What a smart kid.

“Well, bats use that to find their way around. They bounce echoes off things, so they know where the trees are. Even the flies.”

“Did you learn about it at school?”

He smiles to himself, a smile too small to be seen by firelight. “No, I had a friend who loved nature and animals. He told me.”

Fear over, she’s getting sleepy again. He is, too, if he’s honest. He’ll just close his eyes for a second, he tells himself.

A little later, he stirs awake. Lexi is nestled into his side, and he hasn’t the heart to move her.

*~*~*~*~*

_Eight weeks earlier_

Cancelled. Officially. The wedding was off.

She wanted to know why. Would it help her, knowing it had nothing to do with her, it was him that was broken? Or would it just make her feel stupid?

If he thought it’d help, he’d tell her. Anything to ease her pain.

Relief, that he wouldn’t have to stand up in front of everyone he knew and cared about, and lie to them.

Anger, because why did this have to happen to him? He tried so hard, he never let anyone down before. Why couldn’t he just be happy?

Guilt, for hurting her. That was inescapable, either way. At least this way, she’d be able to move on to something better. Eventually.

Hope? Could he move on to something better?

Fear. Lots and lots of fear. He’d been so close to making it work, to having something that would let him fit in for the rest of his life, and now it was gone.

These last two seemed to be in conflict, and his mood lurched between the two. I’m free to is it too late to fix it?

He lets himself daydream – not for the first time – about what could’ve been, if Chris had lived. Surely things would be different. If they’d both been brave enough to admit what was clearly happening between them. Maybe then it would be worth the stares, and the judgement, and the feeling of letting down loved ones. They would have had each other. Now Callum feels like it’s a choice between having no-one but his brother and a few Army mates, and having no-one at all.

No choice at all.


	6. Chapter Six

Stuart’s upbeat mood seemed to have vanished, and his long face and gloomy predictions were reminding Ben even more strongly of Uncle Fester.

“We’re gonna be stuck here forever. Castaways, like in that Tom Hanks film, what d’ya call it?”

Ben gives him a look of disbelief. “Cast Away?”

“Yeah, that’s it. I will not look good with a beard!”

Ben wholeheartedly agrees, but he forces himself to be patient. “We’re not gonna be stuck here. That was a massive bloody cruise ship and this is the Med, not the South Pacific! People are gonna be looking for us. They’ll probably be here by morning.”

Truth be told, he’s getting anxious. Other than one poor sod, they haven’t found anyone else. He can tell Stuart’s trying to be helpful, but his prattle is beyond irritating. 

“You divorced?”

Ben spins to look at him. “What?”

Stuart shrugs. “You’re looking for your daughter, but not her mum?”

Ben plans to tell him to mind his own business. But different words come out.

“Lola wasn’t with us. I mean, we’re not together. Never were, really. Just a teenage …” It feels wrong to call an event that led to Lexi a mistake, “accident.”

Well, that’s hardly better.

“Single, then? Did you get a look at some of those girls doing the lifeguarding round the pool? They could guard my life anytime.”

Ben sighed. This, again. “Not my type.”

“What? Too fit? Too gorgeous?”

“Too female.” Ben drops his bombshell and keeps on walking. It’s good, most of the time, being able to pass as straight, especially with the world he lives in back home. But it does mean having to come out over and over again.

Stuart has stopped walking, Ben realises. He hopes it isn’t going to be too bad. Supremely irritating, he’s the only company Ben has, and he appears to have fully functional eyesight and hearing, which is more than Ben can say for himself, as he searches for his little girl.  
“What, you’re … umm …” He doesn’t look at Ben, scuffing the sand with his toes instead.

“Yeah. I am. That gonna be a problem?” 

“No!” Stuart gasps, too defensive, and honestly, if Ben didn’t know any better, his instincts would be screaming closet case.

They keep walking in silence, which Ben is thankful for. Then, suddenly, he starts to smell smoke. A few more steps, and the light of a fire comes into view. He breaks into a run, eventually stopping dead.

Lexi.

His heart misses at least three beats, and he falls to his knees in the sand, almost fainting in relief. 

Then he notices the man. A full-grown man, dressed in a ragged t-shirt and jeans, curled up around his little girl. His overprotective-dad feelings all roar at once. He pulls in a deep breath, gasping through the smoke. Lexi looks peaceful, even content. Whoever this stranger is, she obviously trusts him. Her head is resting on a pillow made from someone else’s clothes, and the man doesn’t have one. She has obviously been well taken care of. He lets out the breath he’d been holding, just in time for Stuart to careen up behind him and belt out, “Callum!”

At once, Lexi and her new friend – Callum – jolt upright, eyes flying open. In less than a second, Lexi had hurled herself at Ben’s middle and he gave no thought to the pain, just holding her tight, stroking her hair, murmuring.

“It’s okay, baby, I’m here. Daddy’s here. Everything’s okay. “ He wants to cry with relief.

To his right, Stuart has pulled his own brother into a hug, from which they both now emerge, looking sheepish. 

“Daddy! This is Callum. I saved him from the boat crash. Then he saved me from the bats! He’s really clever.”

Callum dusts off his sandy palm on his equally sandy jeans and offers a hand for Ben to shake. “Callum Highway.”

It’s slightly absurd, handshakes and formal introductions in their current setting, but Ben’s brain has stalled again. The firelight has illuminated Callum’s cheekbones, and even by the orange glow, Ben can tell they’re the bluest eyes he’s ever seen. He sticks out a hand, shakes, and offers his name. 

It’s not his imagination. That handshake really does last a second too long.

It’s only a second, then his attention is fully back on his daughter, and he’s vaguely aware of the Highway brothers in his peripheral vision.

*~*~*~*

It’s fully dark, now, and getting cold, and all four of them are huddled around the fire. Lexi is fast asleep, her head in Ben’s lap. He’s so relieved to have her back, safe and sound, and profoundly grateful to Callum for looking after her. He’s never liked feeling indebted to anyone, but there’s something disarming about Callum which seems to make it okay. His next priority is getting Lexi somewhere safe, away from this crash.

“They’ve got to be looking for us, right?” he whispers softly, so as not to wake her.

“Of course,” Callum replies, on Ben’s right hand side. Ben notices that Stuart, on his left, has fallen asleep and begun to snore softly, inaudible over the crackling fire. “I think I saw a helicopter earlier. It won’t be long. They might be waiting for first light.”

Ben nods, stroking Lexi’s hair. “Thank you. Again. For watching out for her.”

Callum looks mildly embarrassed, grinning awkwardly and shrugging it off. Ben can’t help it; his eyesight’s not the best in the world, but he’s far from blind. Callum is breathtaking. And here, by the glow of the fire, having spent a crisis caring for Ben’s child, his whole world … with Lexi and Stuart both asleep, it’s like they’re the only people on Earth. He could call it shock, or tiredness, or dehydration, but he can feel the whole world shifting around him.

Except … there was that whole unexplained jilting of the only girlfriend he’d ever had.

And that too-long handshake.

And the way he keeps smiling that awkward smile, and can’t seem to hold Ben’s gaze for long …

Ben shakes his head. No. Now is most definitely not the time.

Unfortunately.

Callum leans forward to put more wood on the fire.

“It’s a good job we’ve got you,” Ben drawls, unable to help himself. “Army action man.”

“It’s just a fire,” Callum replies, his instinct clearly to downplay and praise. Interesting.

“A man of many talents.” Ben tilts his head and gives him a long look.

As expected, Callum looks away. It’s hard to tell by the light of the fire, but he may even be blushing.

And there’s that little smile again. 

“If there’s no sign of rescue by morning,” Callum says, looking pleased to have more to offer, “we should see if any bottled water washed up with the ship. I don’t think there’ll be any fresh water near here.”

Thinking back to the only thing he’d found washed up on the shore, Ben grimaces. “Alright, but don’t go that way.” He points south, the direction he and Stuart came from. 

“Why not?”

He looks down. Lexi looks like she’s sleeping, but you never know. “We found something that definitely wasn’t bottled water,” he replies, voice heavy with meaning.

After a second, Callum seems to understand, and shudders. “I saw some at the water line.” He pauses and sees Ben’s horrified expression. “Don’t worry, I didn’t let her see. Just around that time, I had her looking for monkeys in the tree tops.”

“Monkeys?”

Callum shrugs. “It worked. I wish I hadn’t seen them, to be honest.”

His voice has lost its optimistic tone. It’s almost shaky. Ben turns to look at him properly and sees his eyes are shut tight, his face drawn.

“Hey,” Ben says, softly but insistently, and reaches out to place a hand on Callum’s. “We’re gonna be fine. We’re the lucky ones.”

Callum doesn’t answer; he’s staring down, as though in shock, at Ben’s hand resting on his own. Ben knows there’s a chance he’ll jerk it away, and the spell will be broken.

Then he relaxes, leaning closer. 

Neither of them move their hands away.


	7. Chapter Seven

Callum doesn’t sleep.

When Ben starts to nod, he draws him towards him, resting his head in Callum’s lap, Lexi still asleep on Ben’s own knees.

This is how Stuart finds him in the morning, his gruff “Morning, bruv,” cut short when he sees both the Mitchells asleep on Callum, who looks exhausted to the point of stupor, but is still looking at them both fondly. He even shushes Stuart.

“We need water,” Callum whispers.

Eventually, Stuart nods. “Speaking of …” he trails off, heading towards the tree line. Callum rolls his eyes, but he’s getting uncomfortable, too. He puts his hand on Ben’s shoulder and gives him a gentle shake.

If Ben’s unnerved by waking up with his head in a strange man’s lap, he doesn’t show it. Perhaps he isn’t. He’s got a kid, sure, but there no mistaking the looks he gave Callum last night. Or the tone of voice …

“Mmmm,” Ben makes no attempt to move. “Morning.”

He rolls his head to the left and, once he sees Lexi, grins up at Callum. 

Callum doesn’t know what to do. Somewhere, deep down, he was starting to admit to himself that, so far, it had only been men he was attracted to. That was as far as he’d got. The thought of living openly … of everyone knowing? It makes his heart race just thinking of it.

Ben, completely open and apparently without any fear, makes his heart race in an entirely different way.

Saving him – or perhaps not – Lexi rolls over, yawns and stretches. Callum can see the moment she realises where she is and what has happened. She starts to cry, and Callum think it’s probably about time. It’s a lot for a little one to handle. Ben pulls himself upright and wraps his arms around her, and she buries herself in his shoulder, sobbing. He makes little shushing noises and rubs her back gently.

Callum melts a little, forcing himself to look away, before Stuart returns and catches him staring. Again. But he planned without Lexi, who even though she has her father, still reaches out for Callum’s hand as well.

“Right,” Ben says, standing Lexi gently on her feet. “Your new friend Callum tells me you saw a helicopter yesterday. That means help is on the way. So you don’t need to be sad.”

“Can I go and look for shells?”

Ben pauses, and Callum knows he’s thinking of the bodies they saw yesterday. But this stretch of beach looks safe enough, and he nods.

“I’ll go with her.” He starts to stand, and then clutches at his ribs and falls back down. Lexi, already skipping away, doesn’t notice.

“Let me look at that!” Callum says urgently.

“Army medic, were you? Gonna play doctor?” And honestly, how can he leer that way in such obvious pain?

“No,” Callum admits. “Just a cook. But we all had basic training.”

“A man who can cook? Even better,” and the man even licks his lips. Callum gives thanks that Stuart didn’t notice.

Ben lies back down, and Callum eases the hem of his shirt up. His ribs are bruised, almost black, but Callum reaches out and touches and, though Ben winces, he doesn’t detect any movement. Not broken, he hopes.

“You need to rest,” he says, with as much authority as he can summon. “I’ll go and watch Lexi.”

“Nah, I’ll go,” says Stuart, unexpectedly. “Need a bit of a walk.”

Callum looks around for something that might help Ben. The best thing – ice – is obviously impossible. He wonders if shredding his jacket would make enough cloth to use as a bandage, and dismisses the idea. His earlier idea – rest – was the best one.

They’re silent for a few moments. Once Ben appears to satisfy himself that Lexi isn’t leaving his sight, he slumps back. Callum notices that he’s gone very pale. He reaches out, instinctively, to pull him back towards him, to support his head. Ben flinches, violently, when Callum’s fingers graze a prominent swelling behind Ben’s ear. As gently as he can, he pulls back the short brown hair and sees the injury for the first time. How had that escaped him before? Not wanting to scare him, he smooths Ben’s hair back over the bump.

“Mmmm,” he murmurs, apparently enjoying the touch, his eyes drifting closed. 

“No!” Callum gasps, pulling him more upright. “No, Ben, you can’t go to sleep. Your head’s injured. You might have a concussion. You need to stay awake!”

Ben moans deeply, making all of Callum’s nerves stand on end.

“Open your eyes!”

He does, blue eyes struggling open. Callum realises for the first time that Ben’s a few years younger than him. He seemed older, before. A confident single parent. Callum racks his brain for ideas to keep him awake.

“Tell me about Lexi.”

“Is she okay?” This makes Ben more alert, but Callum doesn’t want him to panic. He points at where Lexi is standing up to her ankles in the surf, hand shielding her eyes as she looks out to sea.

“What’s she looking for?”

“Mermaids, probably. Or pirates.”

Ben laughs raggedly. “Just what we need. What could possibly make this situation worse? Pirates.”

Callum, laughs too, until he notices Ben’s eyes have closed again.

“No, no, no. Come on. Talk to me.”

“Nghh.”

“Come on. Er … tell me a joke?”

“All this not funny enough for you?”

“Come on. Bet you can’t make me laugh.”

A pause. Then, “How did Captain Hook die?”

“I don’t know, how did Captain Hook die?”

“He wiped his bum with the wrong hand.”

It’s not funny, really, but Callum laughs nonetheless, somewhere between a snort and a giggle, making Ben smile too. He’s only known him for a few hours, but telling pirate jokes while marooned on an island – dirty pirate jokes, at that – seems completely on brand. “Funny. Got any more?”

“What’s a pirate’s favourite food?”

“I don’t know, what’s a pirate’s favourite food?”

“Barrrrr-be-cue.”

He laughs again. “Stop, you’re making me hungry.”

“I’m sure an action-man army cook could make us a feast out of stuff you found on this beach.”

“Don’t count on it.”

They fall silent again. Callum looks at the shore and sees Lexi holding something in her hand, showing it to Stuart. Shells, probably.

“What do you call a pirate with two working hands, eyes and legs?”

“Better off than us?” Callum guesses.

“No!” Ben swats weakly at Callum’s hands. “A beginner.”

“Very good. Where are you getting these?”

“Lexi got a book. She’s been driving me crazy with them.

“Got any more?”

“What’s a pirate’s favourite film?”

“I don’t know, what’s a pirate’s favourite movie?”

“Booty and the Beast. I think I watched an, er, alternative independent film with that title.”

Callum laughs. “You didn’t get that one from Lexi’s book. I hope.”

Ben winks, or tries to. “No, that one’s all mine.”

“How’re you feeling?” Callum asks tentatively. He’s aware there’s not much he can do until help arrives, but already the thought of anything happening to Ben is chilling.

“Right as rain.”

“Really?”

Ben sighs. “Bit dizzy.”

Callum reaches out and takes his wrist, feeling for the pulse. It’s strong enough, still.

“What’s a pirate’s favourite letter?”

Callum knows this one. “Arrrr?”

“You’d think so, but his true love be the sea,” Ben replies in a horrifically terrible accent, making Callum laugh out loud. And this time it’s him who slides his hand over Ben’s, and Ben who doesn’t move it away. Grasps it, in fact. Weakly, but still.

“Daddy! Daddy! Callum! We can see boats! They’re coming this way!” Lexi is half-running, half-stumbling up the beach through the rough sand.

“It’s true,” says Stuart, arriving a moment later, also running, but panting heavily. He leans forward, hands on his knees to catch his breath. “Speedboats. Big ones. I think we’re being rescued.”

He looks at Callum and Ben to see their response, and his eyes land on their linked hands. Callum shifts uncomfortably, and feels his face heating, but can’t bring himself to pull his hands away.


	8. Chapter Eight

Greece. They’re in Greece, or one of its islands.

This much Ben gathers as he lies on the floor of the speedboat, which feels like it’s travelling at top speed. He was carried there by Callum, Stuart and two locals who are wearing uniforms. The woman looks like police, which would set Ben on edge if he weren’t so knackered. The man appears more like a paramedic, and has been giving him sips of water that he wishes were colder. Lexi is kneeling on his left hand side, and Callum on his right. Stuart is talking to the cop, who appears to speak good English, although that isn’t stopping Stuart from shouting slowly at her, like she’s stupid.

He loses track of time, but eventually they arrive at a dock, and more uniforms arrive to carry him to an ambulance, through a growing crowd of people. It might just be his head, but he thinks he sees flashbulbs. When they start to close the door, he shouts in protest.

“Wait! Where’s my daughter? I’m not going nowhere unless she comes too.”

The uniforms look at each other and nod, and one of them lifts Lexi on board. She is followed, despite indignant Greek protests, by Callum.

“Sir … no … you wait … family only.”

Callum looks at Ben, at Lexi, and back at Ben, then shoves his hand into Ben. Lexi, as ever, wise beyond her years, clings to Callum’s side.

“We are family!” she announces, chin raised, apparently daring them to argue.

The uniforms exchange a second look, shrug in apparent surrender, and bang the doors closed. And so the three of them find themselves transported to a Greek hospital.

*~*~*~*~*

Three days later

He’s being released today. Finally.

“You’ve become a minor celebrity,” says Ruth, the friendly Scotswoman from the British embassy, who has been assigned to cover the disaster. “There were only a couple of dozen British survivors. Everyone wants to talk to you.”

Looking back, Ben recalls that he hadn’t heard that much English on board. Most of the other sounded German, or Russian, or something. Sitting fully dressed in strange, new clothes, he sighs heavily and gives her the most pissed-off look he can summon. 

“Must be your sunny personality,” she comments, completely unaffected, barely looking up from the legal papers she’s holding.

“Is she here yet?” Ben asks, meaning Kathy. She had flown out as soon as she’d heard about the crash, which was just as well. Thankfully, Ben hadn’t needed surgery, because Lexi had no other family. Ben would have been content to let Callum take care of her, but no-one would hear of it. Lola was still off her feet. They needed a relative.

“Any minute,” Ruth replies. “I still think you ought to wait a few days before flying.”

Medical advice had been to recuperate in private accommodation in Greece before attempting a flight back to London. Ben wouldn’t hear of it. “I want to go home.” A pause. “Lexi needs her mum.”

Ruth gives him a long look, then nods briefly. She reaches for a pen and adds her signature to one of the documents. “All done, then. I’ll leave this with you.” She reaches into her briefcase and removes a British tabloid. Ben takes it from her and tosses it on to the bedspread without looking at him. Who reads newspapers anymore?

But … the minutes tick by and no-one arrives, and he still doesn’t have his phone. He picks up the paper and turns it round to see the front page.

“BRITISH FAMILY CAUGHT IN NIGHTMARE CRUISE CRASH.”

It hadn’t been his head injury, those flashes of light when they first got back to civilisation. It’s a grainy picture, slightly blurred, and you can’t see much of Ben other than his feet. What is perfectly clear is Lexi clinging to Callum’s side, Callum’s hand resting on Ben’s knee, and the look of concern on Callum’s face. They do, indeed, look like a family. 

He looks at the date on the paper … two days ago. Callum had been to see him yesterday, after getting his own medical checks and giving a police statement. He must have known about this …

Ben frowns. The last five days or so have been tumultuous, and he needs to get his head straight. He doesn’t really know that much about Callum. In fact, he’s only sure of three things:

Callum is gay, or at least bi.

He’s not out of the closet.

And, ridiculous as it may seem, Ben has fallen for him hard. He knows it’s real, because the main concern in his mind right now is that these pictures are going to drag Callum out of the closet way before he’s ready, which shouldn’t happen to anyone. Especially Callum, in all his adorable awkwardness.

Adorable? Ben shakes his head. He really does have it bad.

Just then, a joyful Lexi arrives, bouncing around the room, followed by Kathy, fussing over all the little details, and the moment passes.

Taxi, airport, plane, airport, taxi. It’s not until he starts to see the familiar street signs of the east end that Ben begins to feel he’s returning to his life. At home, he chases everyone away to let him unpack in peace. The first thing out of his case is the newspaper. He runs his hand over the photograph, smoothing out the creases. He realises he has no way to get in touch with Callum.. He doesn’t know where he works, since he left the army. He’s somewhere in the city, right now, but Ben has no idea where.


	9. Epilogue

They were late. Ben didn’t’ care – he didn’t even want to be here – but Lexi was fussing like mad.

“It’s your own fault,” Ben told her. “Trying on everything in your wardrobe before we left the house.”

Lexi is not the least bit bothered by his scolding. Her eyes are shining and she can barely stand still as they wait to walk onto set. “I’m going to be on television! Everyone at school’s gonna be so jealous!”

This, of course, was the only reason Ben had agreed to it. He’d had lots of offers for interviews since getting home, and he’d turned them all down. It wasn’t like he needed the money. But then the television offer had come in and Lexi had found out about it – Ben was under no illusions as to how – and as usual, he wasn’t able to say no to his little girl.

Which is why they now find themselves, hand in hand, stepping out onto a set so dazzlingly bright that Ben has to squint and then gradually open his eyes. Four people: two hosts, one man with a dog who apparently rescued him from a fire, and –

Callum.

Looking unbelievably perfect in a dark button-down shirt and styled hair, the picture of health, no doubt emphasised by the studio makeup that Ben had tried and failed to refuse. Giving Ben that awkward smile, not quite meeting his eyes.

Lexi jumps into his arms and he fusses over her for a minute, clearly a natural with children, and the hosts and the audience are eating it up.

The questions about the crash, and the time before they were rescued, are as gentle as they can be under the circumstances. Callum handles it all brilliantly, deflecting questions about who is to blame for the disaster, charming everyone by recounting how Lexi “saved him from the sea,” and sending out huge thanks to the emergency services in Greece for the wonderful way they were cared for.

Ben just nods, confirms things, and tries not to sound rude.

They stop for a break in filming, and Lexi runs off to play with the rescue dog. Ben turns to his right.

“Hi,” he says, stopping shortly, suddenly feeling as awkward as Callum looks.

“Hi,” Callum echoes. “It’s good to see you. You look … well.”

Ben swallows hard. A million flirty comebacks burst in his brain, but none of them seem right now. “You, too,” he replies. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you again.”

Callum sits forward, reaching into his back pocket for his phone, but has to abort the motion when the stage lights come back on.

“So,” says the host, faux-confidentially. “I have to ask. The newspapers made a pretty big assumption about your relationship. Would you like to comment?”

Ben can feel Callum freeze up next to him. He opens his mouth, almost without thinking, and realises that he, Ben, is about to do something uncharacteristically noble.

He gives a little laugh. “No, I can see why they thought that, but Callum’s … just a mate. A really good mate.”

Several faint sounds of disappointment come from the audience.

Ben grins. “I know, I know. I should be so lucky, right?”

Then, he can’t resist. He winks at Callum.

Who looks down at his knees, eyes closed. He takes a deep breath.

“Actually,” he says, his voice breaking slightly. “That’s not exactly true. Ben is just …”

He looks at Ben, who forces his expression to change from raised-eyebrows disbelief to calm encouragement, an almost-imperceptible nod.

“… protecting me. I wasn’t ready to tell people about us yet, but the cat’s out of the bag, and I don’t wanna lie. Not about that.”

He reaches for Ben’s hand, and holds it tight.

“Not about us.”

The audience cheers. Many of them stand. One or two squeal.

Ben can’t believe this is happening to him.

*~*~*~*~*

The interview is over, they’re backstage, and Callum is bent over, gasping for breath like he’s just been pulled out of the sea.

Ben puts a steadying hand on his shoulder, and forces him to meet his eyes. “You okay?”

Callum blinks. “Did I really do that?”

Ben nods, the admiration clear on his face. “The worst bit’s over.”

“I don’t know,” says Callum fearfully. “I don’t want to go out there.” He tips his head towards the outside world.

It wasn’t a live interview, but Ben knows what he means. “Come on,” he says, taking Callum’s hand and calling for Lexi, who pulls herself away from the dog.

“Where?”

“They let me park in the employee car park. Because of my injuries.”

In truth, the injuries were long gone, but it had been a better prospect than fighting his way here on the tube, accompanied by an overexcited child.

All the way home, Lexi chatters about the dog. Callum sits and takes one deep breath after another. At every red light, Ben puts a reassuring hand on his thigh.

It turns out Callum doesn’t live all that far from Ben, and as they’re passing Walford Ben suggests dropping Lexi off at home. Then he follows Callum’s directions and parks outside a funeral parlour, of all places, with an upstairs flat.

“Thanks.” Callum doesn’t seem to want to leave.

“Any time,” says Ben, hoping his meaning is clear.

“You … you wanna come up?”

This time Ben can’t hide his surprise. And, tempted though he may be, he knows this is moving all too fast for Callum, and starts to decline.

“Just for a coffee. And a chat. Exchange phone numbers, maybe?”

How can he say no?

The flat is violently, aggressively pink. And floral. Ben suspects it is the work of the former fiancée. Callum switches on the kettle and then looks at Ben, all the awkwardness back.

“Thanks. Again.”

“Any time. Again,” Ben grins softly, his teasing at its most gentle.

“Not just for the lift. For … for covering for me, back there. Or at least, being willing to.”

“You’ve gotta do that on your own terms,” he says quietly.

“I did!” Finally, Callum looks triumphant. “I did, didn’t I? I’ve been hiding that for so long. It felt good, to be open about it.”

As he speaks, he gets nearer and nearer to Ben, never breaking eye contact. He looks so proud, and happy … Ben reaches out, putting his hand on the side of Callum’s neck, and pulls him down into their first kiss.

He still has to rise onto his toes. That’s a nice height difference, notes one part of his brain.

The rest of his brain is unravelling. The kiss is unlike any kiss he’s had before, first kiss or otherwise. He suspects this is Callum’s first kiss with a man but it makes no difference; he can feel the joy in the other man’s lips. He hears a soft moan and realises he was the one who made it.

When the kiss ends, they shift into an embrace, fitting each other perfectly. 

“I must remember to thank Stuart for making me go on that cruise,” Callum says.

“Yeah, I should get Lola something nice,” Ben responds, and they both crack up. Laughing together, holding each other … it’s nice.

It’s home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's it.
> 
> On reflection, this should have been subtitled "How to Fit a Slow Burn into Five Days (or Eight Chapters)" or "What a Maritime Disaster Never Looks Like."
> 
> It was slower and softer than I'd intended, probably because I've been feeling quite slow and soft myself these days. I dunno. Blame 2020.
> 
> Thanks again, all those who were patient and forgiving. I really do love our fandom :)


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